She Come By It Natural

This is a collection of 4 essays that were published online in 2017 and as I was reading the book I realized that I had definitely already read at least some, if not all, of them online. In her intro, Smarsh notes that she hasn't really updated these and they serve as a time capsule of 2016-7. It was interesting revisiting these since I do think the general Dollysance has only grown since then, with more people generally approving of Dolly without knowing many details about her life/music.

Anyway, it's kind of weird as a book-artifact but still, interesting and enjoyable essays on a topic dear to my heart.

This book, which collects and slightly updates the author's 2016 articles for the No Depression magazine, claims that Dolly Parton, and the low-income country women of Smarsh's family, are the real feminists, using their wits, bodies and whatever other strengths to have to make it in a man's world. I don't quite buy the argument, and I don't care for Smarsh's not very subtle attacks on middle-class white feminists who apparently are all talk and theory but haven't really lived a genuine life enough to be counted. Really, do we still have to pit one group of women against each other? Can't we just appreciate what all women have endured and survived without turning it into a class war? As for the biographical sections about Dolly Parton, you can find better in other books. I don't really care whether Dolly calls herself a feminist or not, I care that she is amazing and her actions have demonstrated that she is generous and open-minded. I haven't read Smarsh's breakout book [b:Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth 38532119 Heartland A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth Sarah Smarsh https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1530074050l/38532119.SY75.jpg 60164951], but if it's more of the same us-against-them polemic, I'll continue to give it a pass.